Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Rurally Screwed (+Giveaway!)

I can't recall exactly how I came to Jessie Knadler's blog Rurally Screwed , but I've been coming back to it again and again ever since. A former Manhattanite who left the big city for love in a small southern Virginia town, Jessie is a new mom (baby June and I share a July birthday!), wife to Jake (who just shipped out to Afghanistan for at least a year), a writer with a killer wit and a keen eye for finding the humor (and the crazy!) in her new surroundings, and, now, co-author of a gorgeous cookbook!

Tart And Sweet: 101 Canning and Pickling Recipes For The Modern Kitchen (Rodale, 2011) is Jessie's joint venture with Brooklyn-based chef Kelly Geary. It's a stunner, I've got to tell you. Full of enticing recipes, beautiful photography and exquisite styling, this book is one you definitely want in your canning repertoire. And, if the "fickle finger of fate" (something my 10th grade chemistry teacher used to say during impromptu audible quizzes) falls on you, it can be yours, for free!

For this week's giveaway, leave a comment detailing something you've canned, something you intend to can, or something someone has given you that they've canned and you've enjoyed. If none of those apply to you, just say what you think about the whole canning revival in general. Foreign friends, I must offer my sincerest apologies, as this contest will be open to U.S. readers only.

I'll hold the giveaway until next Monday, the 25th, at midnight EST. And do check out Rurally Screwed. Jessie's musings on everything from deer meat tacos to the insane (inane?) antics of her community members are sure to elicit a chuckle or two from you.

237 comments:

I forayed into canning for the first time this winter with a batch of apple chutney over the winter, with ginger, onions, and lots of delicious Northwest apples. It turned out great! We love to eat it with simple meat, with cheese and crackers, and swirled into yogurt.

I've done my fair share of canning, but when it comes to sharing within the family we've always left that to my Great Aunt who used to dole out preserves, pickles, chutneys, sauces, etc. every year for Christmas. Now that her health is sadly failing, this will be the first summer that my aunts and I are going to take on the gigantic task of canning the fig preserves. I've got the family recipe and my fingers crossed.

Last year was my first year canning, but there was lots of it that got done: 20 lbs of blueberries, 45-ish pounds of apples, 4 pecks (whatever that weighed out to...) of peaches, and a fair amount of citrus experimentation over the winter. Now that we're in the suburbs (with yard!) I'm looking forward to growing a lot more produce than we used to on our little balcony in the city and canning some of that goodness, along with near monthly trips to various you-pick fruit farms around the area starting in May :-)

I'm excited for another canning season. Last year's winner was Plum Jam, made with a random mix of plums cooked down (no pectin, just a little sugar). So delicious.This year I want to try chutneys -- I've never canned any, but I love a cheddar & chutney sandwich... maybe apple chutney to start. Oh, and onion chutney or jam... that sounds so good.

Aside from some salsa, jelly and jam last year, I have been a canning slacker of late. One of my favorite things to can (because they are easy and I love them) is pickled green beans. I hope to grow and can them this year.

Let's see, my favorite canning recipes?! How about the Carrot Cake Jam (those 8 jars didn't last long at all) or the walnut syrup or praline syrup or my personal favorite (because it reminds me of my Dad) Bread and Butter Pickles. We once at 3 jars in 4 days at my house! mmmm they are so good!

My friend Melissa gave me 6 or 7 canned items that she put up last year for the holiday season. I almost cried! Fig preserves to tomato jam to pickled okra. I know the time and love put into each jar and it meant more than any bought gift ever could.

I've been canning for about 20 years now (I'm 38) and am so excited to be on the "cutting edge of cool" now, haha!

The last couple years I've been more focused on preserving the fruit from my apple and cherry trees and making the BEST grape jelly from the grapes grown in my backyard. Apples = caramel apple butter, cherries = pie filling frozen in a pie plate so they can be slipped into a crust and baked anytime.

Last year was my very first go at canning, gardening even. And this year I am planning already..I just came in from planting 5 rows of pickling cucumbers and several rows of tomatoes. Last year I canned pickles,jams,jellies, green beans for the first time, and had a great time doing so,but I lack the those "goto" recipes you know the ones you use every year and they never fail you. I gave away many jars of kosher pickles and and jams last year to family, they enjoyed my hard work! I have to save I have never been given anything canned by anyone else..I'll just keep waiting for that gift!Love your blog! : )

I am moving and just packed up the 2 dozen jars of marmalade my sister made me. Needless to say, I did not need to make any of my own this past season! Still eating grapefruit marmalade from last season...

i always love when a particular member of my nonprofit's board hosts our meetings at her house, because she serves us things like pickled watermelon rind and pickled green beans. they're always the perfect snacking food (the watermelon rind is *fabulous* on whole-grain crackers!), and this summer i'm determined to try my hand at making them. :)

I started canning last summer. Strawberry, strawberry/rhubarb and raspberry jam, salsa, dilly beans, beans, potatoes and spaghetti sauce were on the list last summer and again this summer. I also want to try pickled asparagus, pickles, corn and a couple recipes from your book!

I'm aching to begin canning this year, having realized that I am at the end of last season's efforts. First up, as soon as the strawberries ripen, are batches of strawberry lavender and strawberry rhubarb jam. A few half-pints for me, a few half-pints for holiday gift giving.

Last summer I finally bit the bullet and made my first forays into canning. Words cannot express my happiness when I heard the ping of the lids sealing :) At Christmastime I gave everyone a jar of some sort of jam I'd made and was amazed at how happy they were to receive them. After opening gifts we sat down for a breakfast of fresh baked scones and opened one jar of my raspberry jam. Having picked the berries myself in the warmth of summer, it was pure bliss to share their sweet tangy flavor with loved ones, in the heart of winter. I understood the word "preserves" on a whole new level. Now I'm canning small batches of pickled asparagus and looking toward summer wondering what lies ahead. This year, maybe everyone will get two things: one tart, and one sweet!

last year i canned/jammed pretty much every fruit i could find in northeastern ohio - strawberries, sour cherries, peaches, elderberries, raspberries, blackberries, black raspberries, blueberries, apples, and probably some others i forgot. i also canned peppers and sauces and tomatoes.

Being from the South, I am really partial to the Mayhaw Jelly and Pepper Jelly that people seem to give as gifts a lot down here. I love both of them on crackers with cream cheese. Yum! One of these days I intend to try making my own pepper jelly....

I've canned mostly jams, I just canned some wonderful Strawberry Jam from your book Canning & Preserving over the weekend. This summer I am hoping to expand beyond jams, hopefully with canning some things from my garden.

I have not tried canning yet, though I hope to this year as we planted some strawberries and tomato's. We also, planted apple and pear tree's this year so by next year I hope to be a canning wonder LOL.

I canned my homemade spaghetti sauce for the first time last year. I recently got a Squeezo food strainer, so this year I will be able to remove all the tomato seeds pretty easily. This year I would like to try canning pickles and apricot jam for the first time.

My brother & I have been doing some canning together for the past few years & we really enjoy spending the time together. We make lots of mistakes & have lots of adventures while canning. My most memorable time was in 2009 when we picked all the beans in his garden & canned 78 jars of dilly beans - we are still eating them!! Our ongoing joke with each other is that we are going to bury dilly beans with us when we die because it will be the only way we will ever get rid of all of them! LOL! Thanks for a great giveaway!!Wendy A.

Yay Canning! I just started canning two summers ago (part of my crazed nesting frenzy when I was prego with my little boy) and made a ton of sugarless apple sauce, sugar-loaded apple butter. The next summer I had grand intentions but life with a wee one was a bit more hectic than I anticipated so I only made a big ol' batch of pear butter to give freinds and family for Christmas. So this year I've adjusted to mommyland, joined a CSA and a have a mighty list of things I want to try canning! Starting with pickles. So simple I know but this bbq joint my hubby loves (he's a southern boy on a constant search for decent bbq in New England) and they have the MOST amazing homemade pickles... I dream of discovering the magic concoction (or at least making a variety of awesome pickles that satisfy me) this year!

What a great giveaway! I am Type I diabetic so I try to stay away from sweetened jam, but I like to use all natural sweeteners too. Last season, I successfully canned blueberry jam, sweetened with xylitol (an all natural sugar replacement) and it turned out really good! I can't wait to experiment more this season!

So far I've canned a whole lot of lemon curd and some blueberry pie filling. I am going to try my hand at tomatoes this summer! I had this book out from the library and would LOVE to have my very own copy!

This is something that I'm becoming really interested in. I ordered your "Canning and Preserving" book. It should arrive this week and I'm excited. I'm hoping that we'll have lots of home grown tomatoes this year and I'm looking for ways to enjoy them all winter long.

Growing up, my mother always made pickles. I and my younger siblings were always recruited to wash, brine, and dry the hundreds of little cukes. Then she would pickle, pack and can them into dozens of jars. What an ordeal! (But I have yet to taste pickles as good as her homemade ones)

Last year I was most proud of using Pomona's Natural Pectin to create low-sugar raspberry peach jam. The raspberries were picked on a nearby farm in Vermont and the peaches came from my home state of Pennsylvania. When I sent some to my brother in California, he sent me an e-mail to tell me how much he loved eating it with Greek yogurt (I agreed).

I am set on canning this year, once the bumper crop of tomaters from my dreams manifests and I find the perfect recipe for tomato sauce. My grandmother still cans and makes the most delicious sweet fresh tasting strawberry jam and I also can't wait to finally be given this recipe so I can recreate it for many years.

I have been wanting to start canning for a couple of years. I'm thinking this is the year. I haven't gotten my garden planted, but if I won the book it would be a great start to get me on the right path.

I would love to add this book to my library. I have been desperately trying to wind down my winter marmalade-making habit (is there some kind of support group for that?) and I look forward to learning more about low- and no-sugar preserving as summer fruit comes in. Thanks!

Last year, on a whim, I went out back, picked as many blackberries as I could hold (from the invasive but delicious Himalayan bushes that cover the northwest) and made blackberry jam. It was such a trial, but the jam was AMAZING and now I am hooked. I have big plans for this season!

Oooh...How timely. I've just been reading "Canning For a New Generation" by Liana Krissoff. I can't wait to make her Rhubarb and Strawberry Jam. I LOVE strawberry and rhubarb together...the combination of tart and sweet is magical!!!

My husband and I are giving Christian co-housing a try this summer, moving into the basement apartment of some friends' house and starting up a little community garden. I hope to put up some of our produce this summer!

I'm still learning my way around the world of canning, but so far my favorite successes have been blackberry jam and dilled (pickled) green beans. I'm excited to keep trying and learn more about canning in today's world!

I really want to can some tomatoes this year. I've made jam and salsa before but never had enough tomatoes to make it worth my while to can them. This year I have planted a ton of tomato plants so I'm ready!

HI, I have canned wonderful salsa, I hope to can many jars of stewed tomatoes this year, as well as applesauce, jams and butters, and I have recieved a wonderful sweet pickle from a friend, which I would strive to learn to do soon :) thanks for the chance to win this book, cannot wait!

I can lots of jams and tried my hand at marmalade for the first time this year using your orange vanilla marmalade recipe. delish! I also can whole tomatoes and marinara in the summer. And pickles. I'm interested in canning vegetable soup this summer, then apple butter in the fall. And I've been drooling over this book - thanks for the chance to win!

The book has been on my to-buy list for a while now! One of my favorites from last year's canning was bread and butter jalapeno peppers...I'm down to one last jar. I've been known to eat them straight from the jar while standing in front of the open refrigerator!

With a few tomato plants dwindling at summers end my favorite thing has become curried pickled green tomatoes.. Throw in some onions, garlic, and you can't beat 'em on crackers and of course Asheville local goat cheese. I call 'Em curried TOM's after my papa. Yum yum good!

Love Jessie's blog! I so look forward to reading her canning book (on my Amazon wish list). I'll definitely be canning my apple butter, applesauce and pickles again this year, but I am really looking forward to canning some violet jelly and more pickled veggies. Thanks Ashley for the great giveaway!

On my "someday" farm, I want to can tomatoes, green beans, black-eyed peas, squash, apples, and nectarine preserves. And especially muscadine jam...my grandma used to make that, and it's just about the best thing ever!

have hopes to can pickles with my grandfathers recipe....but so far my endeavors have only gone so far as homemade strawberry jam. and i loved every second of it! pass along the knowledge please, this book looks too good to be true!

I just started canning last summer and one of my favorites was the pear chutney I made from your canning book. I hoarded tons of free organic pears that my office manager brought in for the staff (I let them have some too) and then gifted her a jar of chutney made with the pears from her tree. She was delighted! And it was delicious!

I'm new to canning as well, but last Christmas I gave hand-made goods in a basket and it was a huge success. I've got intentions of doing a lot of preserving this year so I have more variety for gift giving next year. I've also got the beginnings of a sizable garden in the works, WAY more than the rooftop garden I had at my previous place. Go canning!

I just purchased an All American pressure canner and have big plans for serious canning this summer! I have various tomato seedling growing inside and will be planting in the next three weeks or so! I received your book for Christmas and have excellent intentions of trying some of your recipes out this summer as well.

The last thing I canned was a savory fruit compote. It had pears and apples in a spicy honey mustard sauce. It tasted kind of harsh before I canned it but I'm told that sitting on the shelf works wonders for it. I'm going to open one up the next time I roast a chicken.

As another WNC gal, I started canning to help preserve more than just food--but the Appalachian values I grew up with, and to be able to teach them to my daughter. I have done everything now from tomatoes and peach chutneys to huckleberry jam. Thanks for the great giveaway!

We started canning a couple of years ago. Got a thing for spicy stuff so it has been three years of working the kinks out of salsas, jalapenos, peperoncinis, thai chilis, and any and all varieties of peppers we can grow. But there is nothing more exciting than finally opening a new recipe and finding out how you really feel about it.

I think my favorite thing I've canned ever is the batches of wild blueberry jam I put up the two summers I lived in Alaska. Ah, those wild berries were so tart and flavorful... and the experience of picking them was unbeatable!!

I've just recently learned that the mystical art of preserving and canning is alive and thriving--My husband's Aunt Martha (who I now say is MY Aunt Martha) has been threatening to show me how to can beans and okra, and much much more. though I'd really just love to sit back and watch her in action while snack on her home made (and canned) salsa....you've never tasted anything like it!

I canned strawberry jam for favors for my wedding last June...two days before the wedding because the strawberry season just had to be the latest on in like the last 50 years. I did it with a canning pro friend, and we had a good time, and the jam got rave reviews. I plan to can a lot this summer.

my mom & i have always canned applesauce, but this year i'm excited to expand my repertoire a bit :o) i signed up for a CSA...AND added a few extra fun shares - a pesto share & a canning tomato share. so i'll be elbow-deep in tomatoes for a bit & can't wait to try out some different ideas & recipes. i'd love to fawn over jessie's cookbook while i explore :o) THANK YOU!!

I had the most delicious harvest grape and walnut conserve at a bed and breakfast. The innkeepers were able to visit the vineyard just down the road from their inn at the end of the harvest to gather grapes, from which they made and canned the conserve. It was SO DELICIOUS. They sent us home with a jar! I've been wanting to can since.

I canned tomatoes for the first time last year...after boiling, peeling and prepping what seemed like 500 tomatoes, I got two jars full of canned tomatoes...I think I did something wrong??? We didn't die when we ate them so I must've done something right! Can't wait to try again this year!Christine

A long time ago my husband and I tried our hand at canning homemade salsa. Unfortunately it didn't turn out very well and no one (not even us) wanted to eat it! This past winter we found ourselves the recipients of a ton of jalapeno peppers so we made and canned homemade green pepper jelly. Thankfully, this time around people are actually happy to eat it!

Last year we canned jam made from our berry bushes and some tomato sauce from tomato-seconds we picked up at the farmers market. We also pickled some beets (love pickled beets). This year we've doubled the number of tomato plants in our garden and are focusing mostly on varieties that are good for preserving. We'll do beets again, hopefully with some from our own garden. Of course there will be jam. This fall we hope to make sauerkraut again, after a couple year hiatus.

what a pleasure to find your blog! I am a farmer and can LOTSA stuff for our sustenance as well as to sell. I guess I have a little over 250 jars of various goodies right now. I am currently fermenting chinese cabbage, carrots, and scallions for kimchee to be canned next week. The local nursery just gave us FREE tomato plants, 40 of them! And we already have 20, sooooooo, lotsa tomato stuff this summer!

what a pleasure to find your blog! I am a farmer and can LOTSA stuff for our sustenance as well as to sell. I guess I have a little over 250 jars of various goodies right now. I am currently fermenting chinese cabbage, carrots, and scallions for kimchee to be canned next week. The local nursery just gave us FREE tomato plants, 40 of them! And we already have 20, sooooooo, lotsa tomato stuff this summer!

my grandma used to make insane pickles that she used a whole bottle of green food coloring to dye. she made dill pickles and these sweet pickles that had cinnamon sticks in them (!). they were crazy and delicious and the fact that I never learned how to make them is one of the sadder things in my life.

There is a mulberry in the backyard of the house I just moved into. I'm thinking of participating in some freeganism, and making some preserves. This is also going to be the year that I finally pickle some of the okra I grow instead of freezing it all.

Matt and I were married last November and as gifts for our guests we made and canned 60 quarts of homemade ketchup for everyone! Mercifully my best friend came for the canning weekend to assist. It was a wonderful experience, our friends loved the ketchup and even better I was able to participate in something that brings back fond memories of my grandmother.

Nothing, absolutely nothing, beats my husband's great aunt's bread and butter pickle recipe. We can as many as possible every summer. I've also wanted to try dilly beans (though I know they won't beat the bread and butter pickles).

I love to can applesauce. We like our applesauce peeled (I know, I know), and chunky. :) It's really a family affair... my husband runs the apple peeler and I cut up the apples. We cook them down with a little bit of apple juice concentrate and add a little cinnamon at the end. Mmm.

Oh, this looks sooooo good! I think my favorite thing to can is cucumber pickles - we eat them like fiends, and the process (slice, salt, brine, repeat) is fun. Tomatoes are probably the most practical, as we eat them all the time, but they're a good bit more time-consuming. And jam. I musn't forget the jam.

Dreaming of summer for fresh raspberries and peaches! Tried canning for the first time last summer and the raspberry jam lasted almost to Christmas. My four year old wouldn't eat store bought jam afterward!

I can like crazy & it's a great feeling! Since we have ducks & chickens, I'm planning on making pickled eggs with beet juice. I also am planning on joining a friend this Summer canning smoked salmon she'll be catching!!

My family used to can just about anything when we had the family farm. When my grandfather and grandmother moved to Kentucky, we sold the entire farm to move here to be with them, as both were dying of cancer. Since their passing, we are finally starting to look into this new life here in a small town without them and the farm. My mother and I are beginning to implement container gardening, and are planning trips to the farmers' market to get fresh things. We will be using my grandmother's canner and canning loads of things this year, including pickles; sweet, dill, bread and butter, brine, hot-- you name it. We love pickles! My daughter, who is 16, will be canning for the first time, and is so excited to try it. It's been a long eight years without any kind of farming/canning--but it will be like 'coming home' all over again!

Just got some pickled watermelon rind from a friend...have to try it out myself later this year. Also on the to-can list is a lavender jelly from my own flowers. Maybe a rose jelly. Something to compliment lemon curd with tea and scones...

I received the most luscious jar of applesauce - golden delicious green apples if you can believe it - from my sister in Florida who shops at an Amish fruit stand w/access to the orchard. She added whole vanilla bean and sweetened slightly with a little tiny bit of brown sugar. It was heavenly!

I am an urban farmer, crunchy con, baby boomer mom of kids from 30-7, and we finally left the city for the country...and I am telling you there is 100 years of difference between us! My first canning endeavor entailed 250 lbs of potatos! Nobody out here in farm country had ever heard of canned potatoes!! We love em...and are totally digging this urban farming meets country.....love your blog! Thanks!

I harvested the first berries from my young 'Ben Sarek' variety black currant bushes last May. Having enough of the fruit for just one batch of 'something', I decided to strain out the seeds and cook the fruit down to a thick, sweet-tart jam. At the last minute I added ground cloves and fell in love. Velvety, rich, spicy, black currant goodness. The last jar sits carefully guarded in my pantry in the 'good friends only' section.

In the last few weeks, I have made dandelion jelly and lime-ginger marmalade that were canned in a water bath. I also froze batches of lime curd, lemon-ginger curd and violet jam. Last summer I made some killer blueberry-lime jam too.

My canning experience so far has been limited to making jams. I have made tomato sauce from my garden crop but I put it in the freezer because I'm afraid to try canning it. I really want to get brave and do a lot more with my back yard crops besides freezing or dehydrating them. Thanks for this post. I would like to learn more about canning.

My favorite canning project from last summer was a corn relish. It is sweet and tangy- excellent on tacos. On the darkest days of winter, we would open a jar and dream of seeing the sun again. Only one jar left, thank goodness summer is coming soon.

I think the best thing I canned, ever, has been an Italian plum jam with a hint of cinnamon. It's incredibly delicious. I gave a few jars away, and word of mouth has spread about this particular jam amongst my coworkers and circle of friends. Everyone wants more, so I I have a feeling I'm going to be making A LOT of this come September/October!

I have been canning for many years, first with my Gramma back in upstate NY and then my mom and now I am teaching my grandkids to can just about everything! We recently purchased a Pressure canner that we will be working with but have made all kinds of pickled veggies, Asparagus was the last & we recently made Banana Jam!! LOVE LOVE LOVE this & its so easy even the 4 yr old grandson can help!

My grandmother grew and canned all her fruits and vegetables. My mother did the one thing...tomato marmalade. I have my grandmother's recipe box and the recipes are fun to read but impossible to follow. So I have never re-created any of her canning recipes, only the baking and cooking.

I have canned for 30 or so years now. My children like the salsa and jam best, my husband likes all the tomatoes, jams and various relishes. I like the tomato marmalade and orange marmalade myself. I have always used the Ball Blue Book and last summer I bought the 100th Anniversary edition of it.

This summer was my first foray into canning, and my best friend and I made THE MOST INCREDIBLY raspberry jam I've ever had. Just organic raspberries & pure cane sugar. Insanely delicious! We also made some awesome tomato sauce in the fall. :)

I am hoping to can Apple Butter from apples on the trees in the backyard of our new house this fall. I have not been canning for 12 years since we moved overseas. I am ready for my rural life to return, this country mouse has been in capital cities too long!

I made jam for the first time last year - blueberry lemon, ginger peach, and blackberry lime. I gave it to family and friends for Christmas and everyone has been requesting more for this year, so I am planning on trying lots of new jam recipes!

Last year I canned lots of jam and fruit butters. Plus applesauce, peaches, tomatoes, green beans and salsa. It was great. This year I plan to try adding some new stuff. I just have to decide exactly what.

For me, last year's favorite was "Cowboy Candy" ~ candied jalapenos are a perfect addition to most everything save oatmeal! ...and I don't enjoy oatmeal. But, the pickled nasturtium buds were a hit with friends and family. Viva la canning!

I'll share what we used for dinner last night! Back in Feb. I found so quickly dying organic tomatoes for sale & had to get them. What to do with slowly decaying tomatoes? Make & can Enchilada Sauce! I have to say - it turned out splendidly!

We are very deliberately assessing how much of last year's tomato sauce we need to last us till this year's harvest (and if there is any excess at all to take as hostess gifts this weekend). We ponder this over homemade rye toast with cranberry apple jam and great mugs of tea.

About Me

Making an attempt to craft a good life with my husband and young son in a small mountain community. I find pleasure in the light at dusk, atlases, hard cider, cat antics, dog breath, baby giggles, homemade ice cream and snorty laughter.
Author of the "Homemade Living" book series (Lark Books) which showcases topics related to small-scale homesteading and some of the diverse ways people are reconnecting with their food and food communities and taking up sustainable food practices.
I also host a bi-monthly column every Friday on Design*Sponge:http://www.designspongeonline.com/category/small-measures.
E-mail me directly at: ashleyadamsenglish(at)gmail.com.

The Best LIttle Chicken Coop in Candler

"The Big Problem is nothing more or less than the sum total of countless little everyday choices, most of them made by us and most of the rest of them made in the name of our needs and desires and preferences."-Michael Pollan